


Stories of the Second Self: Broken Coven

by John_Steiner



Series: Alter Idem [175]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016), Urban Fantasy - Fandom, witches - Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:20:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23727475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/John_Steiner/pseuds/John_Steiner
Summary: Among a coven of six, Mariah was the only human. Each of the other members were of different supernatural Pentacastes, and they believed that along with each having a familiar gave them a boost in communal spellcasting. Two massive apparitions that they caused were proof of that, but it also put whole city of Cincinnati on edge. Bad timing adds to the coven's problems.
Series: Alter Idem [175]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1618813





	Stories of the Second Self: Broken Coven

"Yeah?" Mariah complained to Alice. "Well now they're looking for us."

Several weeks had passed after the coven nearly made a huge phantasmal manifestation appear over Norwood and Silverton. Cincinnati Police were still asking around about gatherings of people with their pets.

Mariah happened upon a robin she thought was hurt and huddling by her bedroom window in the winter. She learned later, as signs of Alter Idem grew, that the bird was her familiar. An animal with an inexplicable level of awareness and the source of magic for Mariah to use as she wished.

Initially, Mariah didn't know what to do with it other than make random objects float, and unconsciously fulfill the occasional small wish. Then she read rumors online about sub-reddits and repurposed old chatrooms where people exchanged similar stories. However, trying to get in Mariah was first quizzed on what drew her, and after was approved to join the closed groups. Only then did she realize they were trading spells.

However, few of them talked about familiars, and those Mariah found she immediately bonded with. Back then all but one of the group of six were human. Since that time they all became supernatural, all but Mariah. It was a couple years later when they came across a pentacle showing humans and the five Pentacastes in relation to each other. One member was Genene, and for her sake, outdoor covens could only be held at night.

Mariah knocked on Genene's door again. "Sun went down half an hour ago, Genene."

"You guys go in, and I'll wait out here," Da-Xia said in her high baritone voice.

Between Da-Xia and Genene learned to be grateful she was still human. Rumors swirled that it was possible to be turned into any one of the five, but Mariah didn't look into it.

Mariah looked up to Da-Xia's twelve and a half foot high stature and accepted. "Yeah, just keep an eye out. This should only be a sec."

Mariah grabbed the doorknob and turned it. When she didn't hear any protestation, Mariah opened the door to Genene's apartment and stepped in. She found Genene in her living room with some strung-out looking guy whose glazed eyes turned to Mariah and the others. Before them was a Tibetan Mastiff, Genene's familiar and otherwise highly protective dog. The dog jolted at the intrusion and then she relaxed on seeing who entered.

"Oh my god!" Mariah sighed, "Genene, no."

Genene looked up from the wrist bite she was feeding from. "You caught me at a bad time."

"No-fucking-shit," Ferrah called out.

Ferrah had always been a hard core pagan, so she was more than a little disappointed when the angelic traits started showing. Beyond that, she looked like the stereotypical hot blonde and resented that too.

Linett, the Fae in the coven had the bad sense to remark, "You're supposed to use a needle and medical bag."

Genene gave Linett that 'seriously?' look before saying to Mariah, "Look, he likes it this way."

"Sup ladies," the guy affirmed with a stoned casual wave.

"Pay him in his choice fix, did you?" Mariah asked.

"It's cheaper than paying other donors," Genene confessed, "And he lets me do it more often."

"You're going to bleed him out," Mariah scolded.

"I don't eat that much." Genene shook with resentment in her features. "Don't judge me. You didn't have to crawl out from the ruins of Columbus. I don't trust buying on the street."

That was always Genene's defense, that she survived the siege of Columbus, Ohio, and at first Mariah let things pass because of it. Though, lately she tired of hearing it as an excuse.

"Any-who," Ferrah interjected, "We have to meet. In fact, it's past time."

"Can't you start without me?" Genene asked, "I'm almost done."

"It doesn't work without all of us," Mariah reminded of the coven ritual, "You know that. Besides, we gotta talk about what happened."

Genene looked to the guy in thought, and then said, "I guess that's it for now. I'll go get you a bandage and get ready."

The guy slapped Genene's butt with an unseemly grin when she got up, bringing revulsion to Mariah.

"I told you before, that's not cool," Genene turned to reprimand, though without anger. "Business only. Besides, your girlfriend would freak."

After getting her meal ticket a roll of gauze and medical tape, Genene saw the guy out and then left for her bedroom to get cleaned up. Then she followed Mariah and the others back outside where Da-Xia waited.

"Did she Open Feed from him?" Da-Xia asked and pointed at the departing meal ticket.

"He likes it that way," Mariah repeated while making a face.

"Ohh," Da-Xia replied, unsure what to make of it.

"Are we ready to go?" Ferrah asked Genene in particular.

"Yeah, let's go." Genene came out of her apartment uncovered, but carried her bag that included tight-weave covering and a polarized face shield. The coven wasn't going to meet all night, but it was a habit of Genene's which was understandable.

Da-Xia had to get onto her own car, a fully open oversized scooter, while the other five piled into Mariah's SUV, where Rudi awaited. Being that Genene lived in Silverton, Rudi understandably didn't want to be seen here. Her sister had been "silvered" just for being near Silverton a few months ago, and spent a couple of weeks recovering.

Ferrah took the front seat, because her wings needed that kind of room, while Genene and her huge dog took up the back. Mariah's robin that she named Sprite, hopped around the dashboard excitedly as she climbed into the driver seat.

In her rear view mirror, Mariah saw the mastiff prop his massive and heavily furred face on the back of the second set of seats and eyed the little bird. When the coven first got together, Mariah feared that either Genene's dog or Linett's tabby would make short work of the cheery little bird, but the surreal animals all got along rather well. Mariah figured, as did the others in the coven, that the familiars all understood each other on a level that even the six young women didn't.

This time, Mariah picked out where to hold coven and drove north out of Silverton into Reading. While under revitalization by the city, Reading still had a few abandoned blocks and small parks in its northern areas.

Scouting out for the perfect place ahead of time, Mariah drove to an overgrown patch between four backyards where the fences had since disappeared. Mariah parked her car behind one of the dilapidated houses and Da-Xia parked her car back-to-back with Mariah's.

Linett was busy waving her hand-length three-point antlers in front of her cat. The cat pawed at them playfully with claws scratching against the hardened hair-like antlers.

Then, Linett noticed they were stopped. "Ohh!"

The six of them stepped onto the unkempt back lawns and headed for where the growth of trees conveniently offered a sizable and roughly circular clearing while obscuring outside view. Rudi and Genene were the only two who didn't need pocket flashlights to find their way, though Da-Xia handled a larger flashlight that she carefully guarded with a huge hand cupped around the front to restrict how much light spread.

Mariah never intended to be the leader of the group, but the positioning required her to be in the middle. Ferrah took the spot that was as close to north as she figured possible. Clockwise followed Linett, Da-Xia, Genene, and then Rudi. Their familiars seemed to just know what was expected of them.

Da-Xia's red-tailed hawk perched on a branch above and behind the giant Asian. Linett's cat climbed onto the back of Linett's shoulders and lay carefully balanced. Genene's mastiff sat behind her and poked his face under her arm. Ferrah's red squirrel hiked up onto her left shoulder and nuzzled up against her neck and jaw before settling down. Rudi's familiar was a river otter that sought her out when she'd been camping. He climbed up into her lap and then stood to have the top of his head up under Rudi's chin for comfort.

Mariah's robin, Sprite parked herself on the top of Mariah's head and shifted only slightly when Mariah turned to look at everyone else as they spoke in unison. "We of the Pentacle gather. We of the Pentacle are joined. We of the Pentacle become as one."

The ritual went on with all six voices, "We call to the Wellspring of this age. We ask you to work through us."

Without warning a blast of bright light appeared in irregular patches into the clearing. Mariah was pretty sure it was a cop for how bright and steady the light beam was. She shushed everyone and crept to the clearing edge to peek through.

Sure enough, Mariah saw that it was a police car side-mounted spotlight. The light panned back and forth and then stopped. Next, the car door opened and Mariah heard steps of someone she imaged to be a big guy. He headed straight for the circle of trees and stepped through without hesitation.

"Ahh," Mariah voiced, and realized from the cop's face they were done.

"Oh," the burly cop said, "Catch you at a bad time? Let's start with some names."

Mariah hesitated, until seeing a warning look from Rudi, who then nosed at the cop. Looking back at the officer, Mariah caught a glimpse of his neck and suspected he shaved down werewolf pattern hair growth.

Officer Cheney asked surprisingly direct and specific questions, and Mariah's evasive answers fell utterly flat with him. Ferrah was the first to break and let out that the coven was planning on a group spellcasting session.

Not an hour later, and the six of them were being put into other squad cars that had arrived, along with a SWAT van for Da-Xia. They made the top story in the news that week.


End file.
